This invention relates to a device in the nature of accessory implements for a standard or conventional bed to elevate the bed at one end to incline its mattress longitudinally without displacing the mattress relative to the bed.
A great many people--and not all of them hospital patients--suffer from physical ailments which require, or are relieved by, sleeping in a longitudinally inclined position. Such physical ailments include hiatal hernias, cardiac failure and respiratory difficulties, in respect to which it is desirable, and often necessary, to sleep with the head elevated. Other physical conditions, such as phlebitis or varicose veins, often require sleeping with the feet and legs elevated.
The therapeutic value and comfort realized by hospital patients and other persons who suffer from physical ailments such as those described above, by sleeping in beds in which the mattresses are disposed in an inclined longitudinal plane, are well known. Many devices, accessories and arrangements have been suggested for modifying a bed to achieve the desired angular adjustment. But most solutions provide either for the special construction of an entire bed incorporating such adjustment means--which is costly, but satisfactory for hospital use--or for accessories or attachments which, because of their size and weight, must be stored in the vicinity of the bed or beds for which they are to be used. Examples of known arrangements for raising one end of the bed, to incline its mattress longitudinally, may be seen from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,110,039, 3,259,921 and 3,795,925. Further, examples of known devices for retaining a mattress against slippage or displacement, when one end of the bed is elevated, are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,683,795, 2,067,515, 2,082,131, 2,147,538 and 4,017,919.
However, a serious problem arises for persons who suffer from such ailments in a mild way, but are otherwise healthy and ambulatory, and who travel with some frequency, such as hotel transients, tourists, traveling business people and the like. Usually, hotels, motels and similar organizations catering to the traveling public do not provide either adjustable beds or bed adjusting means whereby their beds may be inclined longitudinally for guests requiring such accommodation. As far as is known, no manually portable kit or combination of bed adjusting accessories has been provided, which a traveler may readily transport with his other luggage, whereby he may easily and quickly convert a standard horizontal bed into a longitudinally inclined sleeping surface. The purpose of this invention is to provide a solution to that problem.